Games for Windows – LIVE (often shortened to GFWL) was a digital rights management (DRM) and online gaming service created by Microsoft for Windows games. It was intended to be a competitor to Steam, offering features like online multiplayer, achievements, friends lists, and game updates.

However, it[SQ]s no longer operational

. Microsoft officially shut down Games for Windows – LIVE in July 2022. This means that any games that relied on GFWL for online features, or even single-player functionality in some cases, are no longer able to access those features. Many games previously using GFWL have had their online functionality patched out or have received community-made fixes to bypass the defunct service.